St. Augustine

"The will, therefore, is then truly free, when it is not the slave of vices and sins. Such was it given us by God; and this being lost by its own fault, can only be restored by Him who was able to at first to give it." -St. Augustine

"For if we look at the matter a little more carefully, we shall see that even when a man dies faithfully and laudably for the truth’s sake, it is still death he is avoiding… He submits to the separation of soul and body, lest the soul be separated both from God and from the body, [...]

"For when he says in another book which is called Ecclesiastes, 'There is no good for a man, except that he should eat and drink,' what can he be more credibly understood to say, than what belongs to the participation of this table which the Mediator of the New Testament Himself, the Priest after the [...]

"Thus the true cause of the blessedness of the good angels is found to be this, that they cleave to Him who supremely is. And if we ask the cause of the misery of the bad, it occurs to us, and not unreasonably, that they are miserable because they have forsaken Him who supremely is, [...]

"For when he says in another book which is called Ecclesiastes, 'There is no good for a man, except that he should eat and drink,' what can he be more credibly understood to say, than what belongs to the participation of this table which the Mediator of the New Testament Himself, the Priest after the [...]

"Thus the true cause of the blessedness of the good angels is foundÿto be this, that they cleave to Him who supremely is. And if we ask the cause of the misery of the bad, it occurs to us, and not unreasonably, that they are miserable because they have forsaken Him who supremely is, and [...]

"Now since, owing to our daily defects, we stand in daily need of the fruits of our Lord's Passion, this sacrament is offered regularly every day in the Church. Hence our Lord teaches us to pray (Lk. 11:3): 'Give us this day our daily bread': in explanation of which words Augustine says (De Verb. Dom. [...]